Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 22, 1995 TAG: 9504270007
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY D. DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``It's the same message for all Americans,'' she said. ``You and you alone have responsibility for your health - not your doctor, not all those pills and potions. If you choose to dine at McDonald's on a steady basis, you can take all the vitamins you want, it's not going to help you.''
The syndicated New York Times health columnist and best-selling author made a Thursday visit to Hollins College, where she addressed a dinner audience of students and later delivered a public lecture as keynote speaker for the college's's eighth annual Health Fair.
``I'm here to urge you to start to be a healthy person,'' Brody told students while they sampled recipes from her cookbooks. ``The best time to shut the barn door is while the horse is still inside.''
``If you go to college and all you learn is facts and figures, you haven't gotten your money's worth,'' she said. ``You are here to learn how to be a responsible and productive member of society. Good health is a part of that.''
She said that American women know they have a life expectancy of 83, so there is no excuse for them not to live healthy.
``You know you are going to live this long. You are the future and your future is in your hands,'' she said. ``Fuel your body as well as you do your automobile.''
Dieting does not guarantee permanent weight control as most Americans think it does, Brody said.
``A diet is something you go on, to go off.''
The writer advised her listeners to ``get off the rhythm method of girth control. Adopt an eating and exercise plan that you go on for the rest of your life.''
People should not worry about their weight, Brody said.
``What really matters, pounds on a scale or how you look and feel?'' she asked.
``We live in a fanatical, weight-conscious society. We have to accept the fact that our bodies are not the same shape. We aren't the same height. Why should we be the same weight?''
Too many Americans eat little or no breakfast, a big lunch and a huge dinner, Brody said.
``Reverse the cycle,'' she said. ``You should be breakfasting like a king, lunching like a princess and supping like a pauper,''
Brody started lecturing while she was working on ``Jane Brody's Nutrition Book,'' which was published in 1981 and which she called the ``first, non-gimmicky" nutrition book. "It was not a crazy scheme with no basis in science,".
After that book became a success, people were convinced that they had to improve their eating habits but were not sure how, she said.
"Under public pressure, I put together `Jane Brody's Good Food Book,' she said. ``You become an evangelist of health.''
Brody said she used to be fat. She tried all the diets, all the gimmicks, but the only thing that worked for her was exercise, eating right and managing stress. It has worked for her for 27 years.
``Today, as I approach my 54th birthday, I feel better and I think I look better, than I did at 24," she said.
by CNB